Final Exam: You will be sending me your exams through Blackboard and Email. When submitting please write in the subject heading: “Your last name” and “FINAL EXAM”. Remember this is a test, not a research paper. It is your opportunity to show me how much you have learned over the course of the semester. This should be written all in your own words—no quotes from the text (or other source) and no bibliography is necessary. Answer ALL of the following questions. The responses should be carefully thought out and be at least 250-350 words each.
Question One: Choose and fully identify two specific works made after 500 CE that combine images with text. The works must come from different art historical periods. Note: Do not choose works with text consisting only of names, labels, or artists’ signatures. Discuss the relationship between text and image in the two works you have chosen.
Question Two: Look at Richard Hamilton’s Just what is it that makes today’s homes so appealing? (Pop Art) and Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait (Northern Renaissance) and explain why each is characteristic of their time, place and artistic movement. In your response, explain both the style and subject and how they are similar and how they are different to each other.
Question Three: “It is scarcely possible, even with hard work, to imitate what Michelangelo accomplished. This ceiling is a true beacon of art, and it has brought such enlightenment to painting that it illuminated a world which for hundreds of years had been in a state of darkness.”– Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550, 1568). In the quotation above, Vasari articulates a concept of artistic progress with reference to Michelangelo. During what art-historical period did Michelangelo paint the ceiling mentioned in the quotation? How did the ceiling exemplify Vasari’s claims about Michelangelo’s accomplishments?
